Kaapi...
Normally I don't drink Coffee/Tea in office, because I am very sensitive to taste and smell. There have been very few coffee machines / vendors who have been lucky to have been as their customer. But today, I simply could not keep my eyes open. So, with great reluctance I dragged myself up to the "Java" coffee shop upstairs and ordered the only coffee type I can ever see on any american coffee shop board - Cappuccino. After sneaking a glance around, I unceremoniously scooped out the cream onto a tissue and dumped it into the bin. Carefully balacing the hot concoction, and murmurring all the god's names (after the coffee has been made, i don't know what is the use of praying - after all god cannot magically go into my coffee and change its taste - like the zee-boom-ba in Pattanathil bootham), I arrived at my place and tentatively tasted it - and ...... was thrilled to taste the extremely bitter coffee. Nobody else, I am sure, would even come near it - but I loved it! It brought back memories of the good old "Kaapi and evening tiffin" days of late 2004 - early 2005 in India - with Subha and Meens(as we affectionately called Meena).
It was in late 2004 and early 2005, I could say that our friendship bloomed the best - when all 3 of us were back from our respective onsite assignments and since we did not have other "gangs" to disturb us - we hung around with each other most of the time. And as any other employee, our fav hang out was the food court - hightlighted with hot-dark coffee from the indianised "Coffee-Day". The dark-skinned, ever-smiling young lad would just have a look at us and shout instructions - "One coffee - less sugar - more strong". With a satisfied smug on our face, at seeing the rich brown liquid in the cup, we would comfortable settle ourselves under the shade of a palm tree and gossip about the latest happenings in life,world,office - or 'sight adichofy' the new girls in campus(please don't get the wrong idea - we are straight - all 3 married to men only :D) - or complain about the latest boss/appraisal - or subha and me crib about how difficult it was to get wait to get married ... Somedays we would be lured by the enticing menu of the snack inside the Food court and order. Ah! I miss those - Masala/Onion/Plain Dosa(We 3 would always have a competition as to who got more when we shared the dosas - "Enakku konjam vidu dee panni..."), Bread bajji(subha would meticulously drain out all the oil on the tissue and still make a face), Spring rolls(I would complain how small the rolls were for the money we paid).... Those were some of the best days of my work life!
As the whiff of the freshly ground mocha nuts tickles my nose, my mind goes back to those carefree days in Chennai. I don't think a situation like that will ever come back, all 3 of us working at the same place - taking breaks and talking of this-and-that - much as I would love it - but then life is like that ..... Atleast I have those memories :).....
It was in late 2004 and early 2005, I could say that our friendship bloomed the best - when all 3 of us were back from our respective onsite assignments and since we did not have other "gangs" to disturb us - we hung around with each other most of the time. And as any other employee, our fav hang out was the food court - hightlighted with hot-dark coffee from the indianised "Coffee-Day". The dark-skinned, ever-smiling young lad would just have a look at us and shout instructions - "One coffee - less sugar - more strong". With a satisfied smug on our face, at seeing the rich brown liquid in the cup, we would comfortable settle ourselves under the shade of a palm tree and gossip about the latest happenings in life,world,office - or 'sight adichofy' the new girls in campus(please don't get the wrong idea - we are straight - all 3 married to men only :D) - or complain about the latest boss/appraisal - or subha and me crib about how difficult it was to get wait to get married ... Somedays we would be lured by the enticing menu of the snack inside the Food court and order. Ah! I miss those - Masala/Onion/Plain Dosa(We 3 would always have a competition as to who got more when we shared the dosas - "Enakku konjam vidu dee panni..."), Bread bajji(subha would meticulously drain out all the oil on the tissue and still make a face), Spring rolls(I would complain how small the rolls were for the money we paid).... Those were some of the best days of my work life!
As the whiff of the freshly ground mocha nuts tickles my nose, my mind goes back to those carefree days in Chennai. I don't think a situation like that will ever come back, all 3 of us working at the same place - taking breaks and talking of this-and-that - much as I would love it - but then life is like that ..... Atleast I have those memories :).....
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